Let's not treat Americans all the same, there are millions of responsible gun owners

It is plain stupid to dismiss all Americans that own guns as right-wing “nutjobs” (not my language)

Since the shooting in Sandy Hook, another 500 Americans have died because of US gun laws

My favourite fellow “dad” on the school sports touchline is American. This week, he told me how often people approach upon hearing where he’s from and tell him: “I don’t like Americans”. It’s less about Iraq or the president, and more about guns. My friend is a card-carrying liberal; I doubt his parents even let him have a water pistol as a child. I was going to suggest that he probably doesn’t even know anyone who owns one - but that’s highly unlikely.

One in three Americans own guns, and there are roughly 300 milion firearms in the country.

The America I know: Boston (my family) and New York City (where I lived), is not gun-owning America. The ownership figure is 23 per cent in Massachusetts, 10 per cent in New York. This summer, my American cousin visited London for the first time. Over dinner he stunned us by revealing he had a gun, “just a small one” mind you, “just in case”. His son admitted the same. I’ve visited them perhaps 20 times and I didn’t have a clue.

Of course they know all the arguments against; the statistics that contrast gun deaths in America with everywhere else in the world. Of course, they now know even our police force appears to get along fine without. And yet. Owning a gun “just in case” is as ingrained in the national psyche as drinking tea or talking about the weather is for us,

It is plain stupid to dismiss all Americans that own guns as right-wing “nutjobs” (not my language), oblivious to the dangers of possessing weapons. There are millions of responsible gun owners. Their blindspot is that the sheer number of guns in circulation means that, however low the percentage of irresponsible owners, the likelihood of an incident is unacceptably high. Hence, 31,000 deaths per year.

We haven’t even discussed money (it’s a $15 billion a year industry), or the second amendment, nor the bloody-minded, powerful National Rifle Association.

There are too many special interests at work to acknowledge what is staring us in the face.

The bulk of those one in three ordinary, everyday Americans genuinely believe that, because of the prevalence of gun violence, they need a gun to protect themselves. We will not change their minds by a hectoring or sneering born of our own prejudices.

Stefano Hatfield is editor in chief of High50.com